Kearney praises his side after Riverside victory

Coleraine manager Oran Kearney praised his players after they picked up a vital three points away at Institute on Saturday.

Ian Parkhill and Matthew Snoddy were the first half goal scorers as the Bannsiders racked up their first win of 2015.

It was Kearney’s menfirst win over the Riverside Stadium outfit this term and the Bannsiders’ boss was a happy man at the end.

“I’m happy to get the three points,” he told Times Sport afterwards.

“We’ve been Jekyll and Hyde against Institute this season. We were beaten by them in the third match of the season up here. We played well for 60 minutes that night and then Stevie Curry scores a belter and the whole game is turned on its head.

“Then at The Showgrounds we played well but obviously it turned into the game that never was because of the suspension row. We were dominant that day and very strong, it was probably the most complete performance we’ve had this season, but we ended up getting nothing for it.

“So weighing up those two games I said to the lads before the game which team is going to turn up today?

“For me it had to be the team that was so dominant in the home game and got about business from the first whistle.

“We wanted to get out of the blocks quickly, and we did that, we started the game really well. Our play before winning the corner was good, and we kept the ball alive well which allowed ‘Parky’ to get the strike away.

“Psychologically you know Institute are down there and are on this winless streak, so we drove that into the players before the game. We went a period of eight or nine games last year when we couldn’t buy a win and we know what it is like.

“When you’re playing against a team like that you have to be on the front foot from the off and try and force the errors and the goals.

“When we got ahead we were confident we could keep another clean sheet and get the win.”

Kearney was delighted that his starting eleven featured three local teenagers with another in striker Jamie McGonigle coming off the bench to make his full debut.

“We started with three lads who have come through the system. Adam Mullan, Lyndon Kane and Brad Lyons are just teenagers and it is great for us that these three local lads have made the breakthrough.

“When you add that to the quality and the experience we have all in all it’s very pleasing.

“When you go 2-0 up in this league you have to show the guile and experience to kill off the game, and I thought we did that well and even the young lads showed that.

“We let Institute have it in their half, we kept a good shape in our half with two banks of four and two floating ahead of that and we made it really difficult for them.

“The only thing I would be critical of is we probably should have been a bit more clinical on the break.

“The secodn goal was indicative of what we wanted, we had three or four opportunities in the second half to do that but we just weren’t as clinical when those chances arose to get the the third,” added Kearney.

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